The #2 man in the Obama administration issued a pretty solid defense of Israel today, as the rest of the world continued freaking out: Biden solidifies defense of Israel: ‘What’s the big deal here?’

“I think Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interest. I put all this back on two things: one, Hamas, and, two, Israel’s need to be more generous relative to the Palestinian people who are in trouble in Gaza,” Biden said, according to a transcript of the interview, in which he went on to discuss Hamas’s control of Gaza:

“[The Israelis have] said, ‘Here you go. You’re in the Mediterranean. This ship — if you divert slightly north you can unload it and we’ll get the stuff into Gaza.’ So what’s the big deal here? What’s the big deal of insisting it go straight to Gaza? Well, it’s legitimate for Israel to say, ‘I don’t know what’s on that ship. These guys are dropping eight�— 3,000 rockets on my people,’” Biden said.

Biden continued:

Now, the one thing we have to do is not forget the plight of these Palestinians there, not Hamas, the�— they’re in bad shape. So we have put as much pressure and as much cajoling on Israel as we can to allow them to get building materials in, glass —

ROSE:�That’s what they’re trying to bring in, building materials.

BIDEN:�Yes, we know that, but they could have easily brought it in here and we’d get it through.�